Legal manuevers: the NASD announced that longtime regulator Mary Schapiro will take over as chief; Veep Cheney aide Dean McGrath bolts for the private sector; Julie Myers takes over as U.S. immigration chief; and Alan Beller will leave his post at the SEC.

The week after Wal-Mart’s vice chair pled guilty to criminal charges, the retailing giant had legal woes of its own. A Pennsylvania judge approved a class-action lawsuit against Wal-Mart that alleges the company underpaid its workers, and the Maryland legislature passed a controversial new “fair share” law aimed directly at the company.

In bankruptcy news, UAL moved one step close to emerging from Chapter 11 and the Delta bankruptcy judge stepped aside for medical reasons.

Judge Alito’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee attracted more attention for the bloviating of our legislators than it did for the nominee’s testimony. Vanguard founder Jack Bogle’s blunt statement about his firm’s role in the affair created a stir.

About Law Blog

The Law Blog covers the legal arena’s hot cases, emerging trends and big personalities. It’s brought to you by lead writer Jacob Gershman with contributions from across The Wall Street Journal’s staff. Jacob comes here after more than half a decade covering the bare-knuckle politics of New York State. His inside-the-room reporting left him steeped in legal and regulatory issues that continue to grab headlines.

Must Reads

Plaintiffs' lawyers dodged a bullet last year when the U.S. Supreme Court spared a quarter-century-old precedent that had served as the legal linchpin of the modern investor class-action case. Despite that win, a new report suggests that securities class actions have lost some of their firepower.

In a week in which images of Prophet Muhammad were connected to acts of terror and defiant expressions of freedom, a sculpture of the prophet of Islam inside the U.S. Supreme Court has drawn little notice.

Alan Dershowitz has vowed to slap a defamation suit against the two lawyers who claimed in a court document that Florida financier Jeffrey Epstein arranged sexual liaisons for him with an underage prostitute. Those lawyers have beaten him to the punch.

The salacious allegations against Prince Andrew and Alan Dershowitz that surfaced in a federal lawsuit involving convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have generated international attention. Drawing less coverage is the lawsuit itself -- a case with the potential to expand the rights of crime victims during federal investigations.